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I do have a general issue with religion and I find Buddhism, and moreover the notion of karma, as being more and more a believe that suits my values.

Basically, karma is a sort of cosmic system invented by the Buddhists to determine who gets upgraded when the next game of life starts again (reincarnation).

Karma is the way in which the kinds of seeds we sow in our lives tend to create similar results. It’s like a return of your investment: you invest in your life, your commitments, and your relationships and then karma rewards you; you cheat, you lie, you steal, karma gets back at you.

Surely, there is a very long debate about the interpretation of karma and you can go ahead and search for it.

My believe is that karma is the universe balancing all aspects of live. There’s nothing related to fate or reward and punishment for being a good human or a bad one. Good men have terrible fates and terrible people can be successful, it’s a fact.

I see karma like a guide to wholesome and harmonious way of life. If we understand that our actions influence the quality of our lives (cause-effect) we can make a shift in the way we do things. Karma doesn’t punish – it sets an example, it teaches you about life. Often we learn it the hard way by enduring the same type of suffering that we did to others. History repeats itself until we learn to change our paths.

Each step you make leads to the next one and the next one …. Past, present and future are connected. Whatever we put out in the universe it will come back to us in some way.

Be happy, at peace and in love … and you will find happiness, peace and love.

Quote:

“When a bird is alive, it eats ants. When the bird is dead, the ants eat the birds. Time and circumstances can change at any time. You may be powerful today but remember: Time is more powerful than you!”

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I haven’t “said” anything in a while now. Didn’t feel like I have something to say, neither the inspiration to put something in written. I was busy with work, with getting in shape and exercise more, reading a lot (I started this year in a full reading mode) and, believe it or not, I do some sort of cooking (I’m becoming an expert on salads and greens to have for lunch).

What else did I do?
By mistake, I watched several youtube videos, and by several I mean a lot of them, and also read some books like The Happiness Project and L’art de la simplicite, about minimalist life style and how to ease your life by reducing the number of items you own.
I don’t have a rich life because I have my house full of things – I do believe experiences are the most valuable items we can buy for us and for our loved ones.
It’s ok to have, for example, a memory box with concert tickets, small tokens, a dried flower and other small things to make you remember certain events and important moments of your life, or magnets on your fridge, or some postcards from places you visit.
However, to keep your closet full of things you never wear, don’t fit or are in a bad shape, it’s not the case. Same for shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, toys, books, electronics, etc. Why keep’em if never use them?

So, I donated some of my clothes, got rid of old cosmetics, sold some jewelry, sold some books I don’t use or I don’t like and moved on without purchasing anything in return.

And I felt so damn good.
More space, less dust.

I cleared every space I got the chance to: the house, my desk at the office, my drawers in my parents’ house, my boyfriend’s things in the house and in the car.

And I want to keep doing it. You want help with decluttering your life? I can offer some tips.
First off, you have to be courageous and accept a change.

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Over the years I went through many hobbys and collections: used to collect coins, stickers, sailor moon and garbage pail kids figurines, make handmade earrings, etc… The only thing I have stayed true to was collecting postcards.

Looking back, I think it all started during my childhood. My parents used to take me to the sea side almost every year and each time we used to send postcards to people at home – the classical postcards with Romanian beaches, hotels and summer gardens.

I already had some from my mother – old black and white postcards that she inherited from her mom too. My mother had several collections – coins, stamps and napkins. So I guess that’s how I ended up collecting postcards – it runs through the family.

During university I joined an online site called postcrossing.com – a postcard exchange project that invites everyone to send and receive postcards from random places in the world, for free! The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive one back from someone somewhere in the world.

Why? Because there are lots of people who like to receive real mail. The element of surprise of receiving postcards from different places in the world (many of which you probably have never heard of) can turn your mailbox into a box of surprises – and who wouldn’t like that?
The site randomly gives you an address where to send the postcard and a code, so that the receiver can register the card in the system. After your postcard is received, your address will randomly be given to someone to send you a postcard. Where the postcard comes from is a surprise!

This way I ended up having over 300 postcards from all places around the world, besides the nearly 200 I already had from Romania. Have you heard of Granada or Taubate? I didn’t before receiving a postcard.
With the traveling I have done so far, my collection grew bigger and bigger – ‘cause yes, I’m like Mr. Bean, sending myself postcards from the places I’m visiting. Now I have photo albums where I store them depending on the topic and I’m thinking of making a whole wall in my house for them.
Like any collector, I do have my favorites: the ones with lighthouses, the ones with St. Basil Cathedral from Moscow, and some from Malaysia. I like postcards picturing one single thing, not the ones with several interest points on them.
If you ask yourself which one is the dearest or, in some case, probably the most valuable card I own, is a black and white one with the Island of Ada Kaleh, submerged by Ceausescu in order to build the Iron Gates hydroelectric plant in 1970.
As with most collectables, it’s difficult to put a prize on when you invest time and passion. As for the cards, pretty important is the postmark and the message on the back – which shows the age of the card and its provenience.

Next time you go on vacation or on a small tip, don’t forget to buy a card or to send one to someone you care about. They will appreciate the real mail!

A lot of travelers skip Stockholm because it’s an expensive city. There’s no denying that Stockholm is really expensive compared to other cities around Europe but a visit doesn’t need to break your budget.

Me, Mau and Gri went to Stockholm for 4 days (3 nights) – from Friday ‘till Monday. We bought a very cheap flight from Wizzair and we booked the hotels via Booking, like always – 2 nights we stayed in a ship in the Gamla Stan shore and 1 night at the airport hotel in Skavsta.

What we did

We took long walks along the promenades: even though it was gloomy and rainy half day and the other half dark and cold, we couldn’t help but walking and watch the ships come and go, admire the city’s majestic profiles and enjoy the views – we walked 20km /day.

We visited the Vasa Museum – which is truly amazing – beside the big wooden ship being conserved, there is also a beautiful space dedicated to world geography and history. Face the world program and the Vitruvian man of DaVinci were impressive.

In Tivoli Gronalund – a very big amusement park – we only took a slight look because it was closed. No rides in those frightening carrousels.

We only used public transportation once – we took the ferry from Slussen to Skansen which is a park and a zoo at the same time. Really nice to visit – we got to see how glass is made during a workshop.

Fotografiska Museum is also a must see – besides the expo itself, you get to take photos in a photo booth setting and print them out. Unfortunately, I lost ours. It has also a nice shop with books, supplies and souvenirs.

The Ericsson Globe seemed awful to me. It’s a sort of ferry wheel except here the gondola actually goes around the side of the building. Awful!

The Pedestrian street near Gamla Stan has many different shops, if you want to buy a few small trinkets and souvenirs to gift people back home, I suggest you do it here.

Main highlight of the trip: We tried to get a Surstromming can back home but the airport security didn’t allow us to do it. No stinky meal for us!

What got us by surprise

Smell of burgers and French fries – and I thought it was supposed to smell like fish and good wine

Soup, mayonnaise, mustard or caviar are sold in tubes or in sausage like packaging

The water is clean and fresh and they encourage drinking straight from the tap, not to buy bottled water.

State owns alcohol monopoly – they don’t stock anything with more than 2.5% in convenience stores. If you want to purchase alcoholic drinks to consume at home, the only legal option is buying from Systembolaget.

You have to leave the bar at 1 o’clock – Airfur Krog and Bar – beautiful Viking like place where we drank Mead for the first time.

Alcohol is nearly prohibited. But what about smoking? I never saw so many people having a smoke on the street.

Cinnamon buns rule! Yup, they have amazing cinnamon buns. And some other type of pastries that resemble to pine flavor.